Sewing-machine



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

- D. W. GOODELL.

SEWING MAGHINE.

No. 597,555. Patented Jan. 18, 1898.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

D. W. GOODELL. SEWING MAGHINE.

No. 597,555. Patented Jan. 18, 1898.

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i k W UNITED STATES PATENT Prion,

DEXTER Vi. GOODELL, DI -NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO J. WILLIS DOlVNS, OF NEXV HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

SEWING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 597,555, dated January 18, 1898.

Application fil fl February 3, 1886. Serial No. 190,701. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: under portion of the bed-plate of the machine Belt known that I, DEXTERW. GOODELL, of and all the parts attached thereto into a sub- Northampton, county of Hampshire and State stantially vertical position, enabling the hook of lllassachusetts, have invented certain new or looper to be readily got at for freeing the 5 and useful Improvements in Sewing- Mathread in case it is fouled.

chines; and I do hereby declare that the fol- The machine-head f contains bearin gs for lowing specification, takenin connection with a needle-bar g and presser-foot bar h of the the drawings furnished and forming a part of usual character; but the frame-arm i has a the same, is a clear, true, and complete delateral or transverse enlargement to aiford a 1o scription of the several features of myinvenslide-bearing i for the tensiouplnnger, the tion. said lateral or transverse enlargement being My invention relates to an improvement in formed with a horizontal chamber of circular sewing-machines, and more particularly to cross-section. This plunger, as clearly shown tension devices therefor, the object being to in Fig. 4, is constructed in two parts of dif- 15 provide tension devices of asimple, compact, ferent diameters, and the bearing i correconvenient, and effective character. spends therewith in diameter. The rear porlVith these ends in view my invention contion 7c of the plunger is the largest, and it prosists in a sewing-machine having certain dejects at its rear end beyond its bearing and tails of construction and combinations of has a radial stud, which, by occupying a 20 parts, as will be hereinafter described, and straight open slot in said bearing, prevents pointed out in the claims. that portion of the plunger from rotating.

After fully describing the machine illus- The front portion 71) of the plunger is a trated in the drawings the features deemed screw, which tightly occupies a tapped hole novel will be specified in the several claims in the larger portion of the plunger and has 75 hereunto annexed. a bearing in the arm corresponding with its Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a lesser diameter, thus affording an interior side view of a machine embodying my invenannular recess containing an expansive spition. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same. ral spring Z, which encircles the screw and Fig. 3 is a top view of the same. i Fig. 4 is a abuts against the inner end of the larger 3o transverse section of the machine on line 3?, portion of the plunger and the shoulder in Figs. 1 and 8. the bearing, resulting from the said reduction The bed-plate A of the machine is hinged in its diameter. Upon the front end of the at its rear edge to the stand-top b, and beplunger, inside of thehead of said screw, there neath said plate there is in this machine a is a tension-disk m, between which and a 35 revolving hook, a feed-bar, and a fe'ed-consuitable coincident surface the thread can trolling lever provided with a thumb-piece pass freely whenever the controlling power 0, projecting above the bed-plate through a of the spring is overcome. The coincident curved slot therein, all substantially as heresurface referred to is preferably in the form -t0fore. The driving-shaft d, on which the of a second disk m, but a convex surface on 4o hook is mounted, has at its outer end the the arm of the machine or on aplate permausual beltpulley and hand-wheel c. nently fixed thereto may be relied upon in Here I may mention that my improved malieu of this second disk. It is apparent that chine is a single-thread or chain-stitch maby turning the said screw in one direction or chine, in the operation of which the thread the other the tension of the spring may be 5 45 may sometimes get fouled upon the hook or varied, and hence the bite of the friction-disks looper, from which it becomes necessary to upon the thread regulated. disengage it, which is done with great difli- The needle-bar g is operated by the rockcultyif the machine is securedin the ordinary shaft 71., which at one end is coupled to said manner to its table or support; but my mabar by means of the arm 0 and a ball-and- 10c 50 chine, being hinged by its rear edge to the socket joint in a usual manner. The vibratable, may be tilted back, so as to bring the tions of the rock-shaft are imparted from the driving-shaft (Z by means of the hand-wheel e, the pitman d,'and the rock-shaft arm d in a usual manner. The said rock-shaft is arranged to one side of but in a plane parallel with the plane of the said arm of the machine-frame.

Adjustably mounted on the rock-shaft and in line with the tension-plunger there is a cam 19, so shaped and so adjusted upon said shaft that during the latter portion of the lifting movement of the needle-bar the toe p of said cam engages with said plunger and compresses its spring and thereby so far relieves the tension-disk from undue pressure that the thread may be properly taken by the stitch-forming mechanism.

Although under ordinary circumstances the stitch-forming mechanism can be relied upon to draw thread from a spool during the release of the tension, greater uniformity institching can be obtained if the draft of thread from the spool is effected by other means, and hence I have devised a take-off or pulloff mechanism which operates in perfect harmony with the intermittin g tension device.

A spool-carrier of some kind is essential and a spool may be mounted or carried in various ways without affecting the operation of the pull-off; but I employ a laterally-projecting stud g at the rear side of the vertical portion of the frame-arm, which is so proportioned and arranged as to not only serve as a spoolholder, but also as asupport for the machine when it is tilted backward on its hinges, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2, thus not only protecting the table-top from defacement, but leaving the several parts free to be operated for the purpose of observation, lubricating, or

cleansing. A thumb-screw g securely retains the spool in place and also serves as a foot for the stud when operating as a support for the tilted machine. The rock-shaft arm (1 has on its inner side a readily-accessible selfthreading eye (1 and opposite thereto there is a plain thread-seat cl? on the frame-arm, so

that the thread on its way from the spool toward the needle will pass through said eye and over or upon said seat and enable the arm at each downward movement to take off from the spool more or less thread, according to the quantity used in forming the preced ing stitch, provided, of course, that there is between said thread-seat and the needle-bar a tension device, which exerts on the thread a restraining force greater than the tensile force involved in taking thread from the spool. As here organized, the tension-plunger is fully controlled by its spring during the downward movement of the rock-shaft arm. For enabling the pull-off to efficiently operate it is obvious that a thread-guide of some kind should be interposed between the eye on the rock-shaft arm and the spool and in the path of the thread, and hence I use the self-threadin g eye d mounted, as shown, in a projecting portion of the frame-arm, which affords an adjacent bearing for the rock-shaft.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a sewing-machine, the combination with a frame-arm formed with a plungerchamber, of a rock-shaft, a cam mounted thereupon, and a tension device comprising a plunger composed of a tapped portion and a screw entering the same, a spiral spring encircling the screw, one or more friction-disks applied to the screw and caused to bite the thread by means of the tensionof the spring, one of the said disks bearing upon the said frame-arm, and the said plunger being actuated by means of the said cam which engages with its tapped portion.

2. In a sewing-machine the combination with a frame-arm formed at its forward end with a horizontally-arranged plunger-chainber, of a needle-bar-actuating rock-shaft arranged to one side of but in a plane parallel with the said arm, a cam located upon the said shaft, a plunger located in the said plunger-chamber and comprising a tapped portion which projects out of the chamber in position to be engaged by the said cam, and also comprising a screw which is entered into the tapped portion of the plunger, a spiral spring encircling the said screw, and one or more friction-disks supported upon the outer end of the screw and caused to bite the thread by the action of the spring which is adjustable in tension by means of the said screw, and which is compressed for releasing the thread when the plunger is actuated.

3. In a sewing-machine, the combination substantially as hereinbefore described, of the driving-shaft, the rock-shaft coupled to, and operating the needle-bar, the rock-shaft arm, coupled to said driving-shaft, a tension device automatically operated by a cam on the rock-shaft, aspool-carrier, a thread-e ye d on said rock-shaft arm, an adjacent threadseat d and a thread-guide (Z between said arm-eye, and the spool-carrier.

DEXTER IV. GOODELL.

Witnesses:

H. K. PARSONS, OSCAR N. KYLE. 

